Fabian Sfameni is in the business of being a barber. He's the authentic real deal and as one of the the faces of Movember 2012, we wanted to introduce him properly (it's only polite) and share with you his story about being part of a family business and the importance of knowledge and learnings being passed both down and up the generations. His grandfather was a barber, as was his father. It was this relationship that ultimately shaped the man he was to become. Read on my son.
How did you get started?
I got into the barber business because being a third generation barber, we pretty much had no choice. Dad would get us into the shop to sweep the floors and take money from the clients - he was working on his own busting his ass, so I just had to go and help.
He wanted one of us kids to follow in his footsteps and be a barber. Out of the three kids I enjoyed it the most and I really enjoyed the conversation to be had there. I could see that dad was passionate about barbering, and I think I just grew into it. My grandfather and uncles were barbers as well so I just had the passion for it as a young kid. I used to cut all my mates’ hair in the garage where there was salami hanging, and tomatoes that I used to be really embarrassed about. I’d take them down and dad would get pissed off saying, "leave them up there". At the time I was only 15 and I was doing fades and flat tops back then... Dad would come in and say, "son, this is how you got to do it - not like that!" so he would be constantly teaching me.
I worked with dad for a while, but we didn’t quite gel at the time... I didn’t think his shop was cool enough, although now I realise it actually was... It was old school but he really taught me the importance of customer service and the techniques he had perfected. It was at a time that I really wanted to do something for myself and there was only really one young dude’s barbershop in the city so I decided to open my own shop in Richmond. I wanted mine to be an up market, cool hang out and Dad was proud I was doing something for myself. That shop was constantly busy for 10 years.
What are some of the life lessons you've learnt in following in your father’s footsteps?
Family is important. I'm Dad’s son and I've carried on with his profession as he did with his Dad. The life and the family part of it and the dynamic of barbering was such an important thing for me.
He taught me a lot about the right way to deal with people, because retail is quite a hard thing to get right. You've really got to be a people's person, I think that's what dad taught me as a life lesson - how to be polite and give people customer service. Working with him when we were younger we could see how he went out of his way to look after his customers because he wanted their return business, but that's the old school way as it was with his dad. My old man is always on about how that aspect has been lost of late, that it's disappointing the lack of care most barbershops will give you. That's what my dad really passed onto me. And always keeping it above the line... Because I love what I do and I love seeing my customers when they come in for a chat, I don't want to spread myself thin. Giving my best service, like dad taught me, is important because everyone who gets a cut is basically a billboard to me.
Dad always said, “every head is your canvas”. If you do your best, people will see it and say, “where did you get your hair cut from?”, and for a barber that's your main form of advertising, it's the person walking out of your shop. He's never dropped his level of standard because of that, and I think I've really learnt a lot from that. And he will still challenge me, always pushing for the best still to this day... You never stop learning! I'll say to him "it's about quality not quantity dad..." and he'll say " son, it's about both!" and that's partly why I have a lot of respect for my dad.
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How long have you been rocking a Mo?
Movember really got me started about seven years ago. I've pretty much been wearing one ever since the first year I got involved. My kids don't really know me without one now. It's great when a well-dressed guy comes in with a moustache to trim. Dad always had a moustache over the years too, I've got really cool old photos of him rocking a Mo back in the day and it really looked awesome on him!
A guy that is well groomed is passionate about their appearance, a guy with a good Mo who comes in instantly tells me they care about what ever they do... And I love meeting passionate people regardless of whatever it is that they do, because you know that they are passionate about life.
